Drawing human body

Here you'll find a tutorial about drawing the human body drawing using the method described in The human body structure section.

These poses are a little difficult though, don't expect to draw like this from the beggining... it comes with time and practice.

Also, sometimes I don't respect all the help lines and change things when drawing all the details. It's probably because as I progress further in the drawing, I have a better idea of what I really want it to look like.

I begin by drawing a stick figure, the lines represent the parts of the body. You should try to keep the proportions correct and the pose stable. Draw all the help lines lightly so that you can erase them later when you don't need them. I draw them strong because I'm drawing digitally and erasing that isn't a problem.

In the next step, you draw cylinder-like objects to get a volumetric effect. Here, you can also see the effect of the perspective (the objects which are lower seem to be viewed more from top).
If you're having problems guessing the proportions of these objects, you can take a finished picture and try to draw in the appropriate stick and block figure. After some time you'll get used to the proportions.

When you're satisfied with the pose and proportions, begin to draw the final lines of the body, using the help lines as a template. These will help you with the placement of individual body parts. However, you still have to know how the body looks like from that view, where the muscles and the fat are. This knowledge comes mainly with practice. You can learn by studying these pictures. Also, I tried to gather some useful info in the Anatomy section.

At this phase, I usually think about clothing and other accesories too. I won't draw those here, obviously.

Finally, you might want to shade the character to give the drawing more depth. You should consider where the light comes from, and shade the opposite side of objects.

Shading also adds some detail to your drawing so, in order to shade the body correctly, you have to know more about its anatomy. I used simple cell shading with the light above the character. Cell shading means that the shaded areas are solid and discrete, without smooth transitions.

Here are other examples of drawing using similar help lines. I drew them digitally and used strong help lines, but if you're drawing in pencil, remember to make them light or they will be visible in the end.